The ultimate “cop-out” sentence a reviewer or columnist can pull out of his/her dismissive phrase bag (re: ass) is the expression “Good for its target audience”. Now, you’ll see this in multiple variations, such as: “Well, if you liked ____, then you should probably like ___” or “It may not be for me but, whoever it’s for, they’ll love it”. It’s the laziest, most self-serving display of false literary magniloquence one can ever attempt to pompously inject into any prose bearing, even a faint, resemblance to analysis. The very idea of forming a critique, in any media, is to be able to synthesize the experience of absorbing content for the specific purpose of illustrating its value to ANYONE who’s generous enough to take your opinion seriously…

So, why is “good for what it is” the only way I know how to describe Justin Bieber’s latest album, Believe?

Okay, I know no one put a gun to my head and said “review Bieber’s new album!!!” (although, out of all the Belieber’s out there, one of them has to be packin’ heat), but at the same time, there’s always the argument that, whoever the album appeals to in the first place is probably going to purchase it regardless of any criticism they see. But, is that really the case? Who are “they”, and why are we (and, by “we”, I mostly mean people with a taste in music that covers multiple styles and genres) so confident in our ability to typecast others based on their choice in music? Whether it be good or bad, most people feel they can easily define an individual’s personality, solely based on listening decisions.

I mean, put it this way: You’re on a bus (or train, or maybe just standing outside looking human-y) and, right next to you, someone’s listening to their iPod. You overhear the track playing and, lo and behold, it’s something along the lines of Flo Rida’s “Wild Ones”. Okay, fair enough. Now, let’s say you glance over to take a look at this person and the profile is as such: husky, 20-something white guy, tribal print shirt, gelled hair, shitty tan; the works. Tell me you haven’t put this guy’s ENTIRE life together already!?

Now, take that same situation, put it in the form of a 20-something black female. She’s got on a solid-color sun dress, ballet-style flats, thick-framed Ray Bans, and a cotton beret, barely concealing her loosely coiffed hair. From her earbuds, you can vaguely hear that new Little Dragon single, “Sunshine”, playing as she dexterously sways in rhythm. Some of us may conjure images of her lifestyle possibly including exclusive house parties in big city apartments (*cough* Lower East Side, Manhattan *cough*), alternating between her life as a fashion intern and liberal-arts college student; all while documenting her days via Tumblog.

(note: I almost composed that second example as a slightly overweight, 20-something, white female listening to Adele’s “Someone Like You”. But, that seemed a tad harsh… Aren’t you proud of me???)

I could be dead wrong about both, of course, and neither is a genuine assessment of character, simply because I don’t know either one of them personally (then again, this is all hypothetical, so I know them better than you do, ha-HA!). I’m also aware that factors such as clothing and body type definitely came into play, but music is certainly a chief component in those judgments. However, there is some worth to the prejudice of coveting another persons musical preferences.

I can attest that, as shallow as it may seem, if I meet a female that I’m interested in, and I make an effort to gain her interest as well, a divisive factor can be (and often is) her taste in music. Of course, I’m well aware that I may never meet a girl as passionate about Wu-Tang as she is about late 60’s – early 70’s era Frank Zappa, but I also cannot date you if 75% of your iTunes library is Skrillex and/or Skrillex related fodder. I just can’t. And, aside from that being extremely trivial and petty, it’s also only one aspect of a person’s identity. We may share the same views on politics, food, sex, movies, TV; hell, even an opinion on the more suitable captain of the USS Enterprise. (it’s Picard… Ladies) But, those are my stipulations. I’m certainly open to anything that enters my ears, but she has to be as well. That’s how seriously I take my music.

Yet, there’s also the duality of tracks that you love for all the wrong reasons. Those, ahem, “junk food” songs that exist solely for disposable fun. In a more mirthful context, I take that music just as seriously. And, no season brings out that appreciation for celebratory schlock more than summer.

Something happens to me when the temperature rises and the layers of clothing decrease exponentially. Aside from sweating profusely, I also gain a seemingly inherent soft spot for trashy pop and ig’nant-ass rap music. A few months ago you couldn’t pay me to show any emotion other than disdain towards Ca$h Out’s “Cashin’ Out”. Fast-forward to mid-June: my car windows are triumphantly down while I’m hollering about how a condo is, indeed, on my wrist. Same goes for that Godawful “Call Me Maybe”cancer song. As much as I’d like to hate it, I don’t change the station immediately when it comes on the radio anymore. I’m certainly not feverishly scrambling to turn the volume up, but it doesn’t feel out of place within the relative milieu of the season. Now, I’ve discussed, at painful length, the polarizing effect of guilty pleasure songs, but should my guilty pleasures define who I am?

Well, sort of. That’s an aspect of my personality and, while it isn’t a dominating facet, the best I can do is be honest about it. But, what if it’s one of those summer days where I’m indulging, and you happen to catch me right in the middle of my attempt to match Bieber’s falsetto on “Boyfriend”? (it happens, folks) How would you ever know that my musical depth reaches further than generic radio pop? Or that the very next song on my playlist is Lee Perry’s “Bionic Rats”? You’ve got every right to judge me for that singular moment, but it wouldn’t be accurate. Then again, are we actually going for accuracy? Or, is the goal to actively filter people out of our lives whom we believe aren’t, at the very least, as interesting as we take ourselves?

I’d say it’s an amalgamation of all of those tendencies, as well as our own congenital insecurities. There’s always someone who’s musical knowledge is more encyclopedic than yours. And, there’s always going to be “that guy” who looks down on you for getting “way too excited” about your discovery of Brian Wilson’s Smile LP, simply because he’s been listening to The Beach Boys since Little Deuce Coup (pretension isn’t exclusive to hipsters, guys). But, you’re going to like what you like, and that’s what will, in the long term, always define who you are… So yeah, I like Believe, for now. But, that’s probably because you caught me on a hot summer day with my windows down and my stereo up.

To address the thesis here, though: Can one asses factual individual traits about a person solely based on their taste in music? Absolutely. But, is it fair? Now, that’s a good ass question.

I feel like “guilty pleasure” songs are only viable for ourselves. Everyone else gets judged. As Jerreau from Fly.Union put it, “We judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their actions”

http://mostlyjunkfood.com lloyd

True, although most people think they can asses the intentions of others. We tend to leave that to authority figures of course.

http://twitter.com/MoBettaBoug Metta Creflo Flame

I often use the way people interact with their music, not just the music itself, to assess a person’s character trait. It’s one thing to have a Waka song on your iTunes. It’s another to hear “Rooster in my Rari,” and commence all types of dread shaking and general fuckery.

http://mostlyjunkfood.com lloyd

I shake my imaginary dreads to ratchet music on a regular basis, but I adjust my mannerisms as accordingly. I’ve always been a context over content guy. But, it’s hard to judge context from afar.

http://twitter.com/MoBettaBoug Metta Creflo Flame

I’m not saying it’s a problem to do so. I’ve been caught (on numerous occasions) reciting some of the lewdest lyrics at the top of my lungs. With that said, if I see you doing the same, I’m inclined to believe that’s a facet of your personality. Whether I decide to engage with it is another thing.

#1 BASSHUNTER FAN

A++++ read, would enjoy narration and macros again! Points for bro on the bus. We all know that guy.

This falls in the larger category of whether taste in film/TV/art/books/fashion etc. is a deal-breaker, of course. And everyone has their area of expertise which serves as this filter for our higher aspirations of relationships, friendship or the ability to share an airport shuttle without feeling our fists clench and that familiar throb come to life above our brow (I bet you thought I was going to say in the pants…that works for good taste, though).

Personally, I just fully concede that I’m no gatekeeper of cultured music taste. If you still listen to Skrillex, is there a good chance that that your iTunes library is 90% shit electro and remixes of songs that were already shitty? Yes. Is my taste necessarily better? I don’t know. I just largely sample what you all tell me to and then just listen to the 10 bands/artists I’ve had on rotation since college.

Music, I guess, presents a larger question here because the content folks can draw from is just so damn big. With movies and TV, you can accidentally stumble upon something good, or otherwise just generally know a few safe words like Mad Men or David Fincher to get you by, and most people won’t know any better. I feel like music is a bigger test. Whereas the same movies/TV shows that have been considered “good” or representative of good taste have been around for years, music is constantly changing/evolving, and you just have to stay further ahead of that than you would for those other things.

In other words, I suppose with music, just not reading a blog in 3 months could actually be a deal-breaker, because you would be so behind the curb. Whereas Breaking Bad has been around for a few years, or Danny Boyle films are well-established by now, and you can afford to not check every 5 seconds for the latest blog star or something.

To the larger question: as much as I would like to assume I am one cultured son-of-a-bitch, I fully concede that I am ignorant in areas I don’t prioritize, but others might. Fashion? Fucked. Food? Fucked. Books? I read, but fucked. Art? I drew an awesome picture of Link when I was 10 years old.

Everyone has some area where they come up short. Or multiple areas. So, yes, as much as I would like to assume the bro blasting Basshunter is a complete tool who will never have a conversation beyond “duuuude, guess how much I drank last night?”, I also realize somebody probably looks at me and says “that kid is never getting laid rocking those Dungarees all the time like that!”

http://mostlyjunkfood.com lloyd

It’s hard not to be elitist when you know your musical (or any media, for that matter) preferences are of a higher conceptual and compositional grade. To just say that is considered pretentious but, at least to you, it’s fact. The problem is, that guy listening to Basshunter might find his production and sound to be of an advanced level. It sounds like a pandering observation, but you can’t condemn someone for being emotionally or intellectually connected to a piece of art… Art is art.

And yeah, totally agree about the areas one prioritizes. Movies and music go hand-in-hand for me, but I’d have no life (or discernible perspective) if I indulged in anything else with the same level of nerd-like fervor.

Thanks for reading! Healthy discussion, here.

BauceSauce

When I meet someone who only listens to top 40 radio, I immediately believe I “know” them. I usually deduce that they are simple and safe. I think that’s a fair assessment.

The more niche/esoteric/vast/cultured your interests are the more you judge people. Sometimes out of elitism, but more so out of this frustration that there is SO much out there that these people could be listening to and enjoying rooted in the aphorism “If you knew better, then you’d do better.”

I personally get subconscious when I pull up to a red light blasting Cashin Out or some song of its guilty pleasure ilk because I don’t want people I don’t even know thinking I listen to only what’s popular (god forbid it’s a black person hypothetically judging my taste in rap music! [EEK! {no the cat}]).

Fair to judge them on their musical tastes? I think it is, but you can’t be so quick to dismiss someone based off one or two songs… It’s impossible to know the size and depth of their music library from the overheard headphone bleed of an Adele song… even if they are a fat white chick. Don’t judge a book by its cover; don’t judge a song by its cover art; don’t judge a person by the “Pumped Up Kicks” cover song they’re listening to.

http://twitter.com/Catf1sh CHicks

It also goes back to mood music. Music has different moods. I used to really dislike Future’s music until I had a bunch of adult beverages and then I understood the method behind the madness. We often judge people because they listen to club music while not at the club, even though this music is condoned and anticipated in different settings.

http://twitter.com/JoeyAllUpInThat Joey Belk

I don’t believe in guilty pleasures, I just believe in stuff that I like.

BauceSauce

k

joeyallupinthat

I’ll try to explain myself as less or more of a curtly douche this time; I think having to qualify something you like as a “guilty pleasure” is a little messed up because of what associations your peers might make.

In your own words, you “don’t fuck with [Hoodie Allen] musically”, but you can’t deny his music is very good. Are you being totally honest with yourself when you skip “No Interruption” when the windows are down? k

BauceSauce

But I don’t emphatically love “No Interruption.” It’s just a good record… I can be objective and say something is “good” without actually liking it.

Now, on the other hand… I love Justin Bieber’s “As Long As You Love Me.” I don’t usually like music like that in the slightest. I don’t like dubstep, I HATE big sean, and as a 25 year old man, I shouldn’t like Justin Bieber. That’s a guilty pleasure. I feel kind of weird/bad/embarrassed that I like it. If someone heard me blaring that in my car or on my headphones in the library they would definitely be bamboozled and have certain “thoughts” on what kind of person I am.

A guilty pleasure, at least how I define it, is something you love that you KNOW you shouldn’t or you don’t normally love, an exception. I just think that’s different than “stuff that I like.” Because “stuff that I like” has elements that I usually respond well to; I respond well to guilty pleasures despite having those elements.

joeyallupinthat

That’s fair enough. I understand being hesitant about blasting certain music as a grown ass man and all, and having your own expectations as to what you should be listening to as a 25 year old male; it’s just the notion that other people’s expectations have an effect on what music one can reasonably enjoy without “guilt” or embarrassment that I think is a little fucked.

http://twitter.com/S_kerbz Spencer Kerber

if i have to take more than ten minutes to explain to a girl why i like a lil b song there’s probably a problem.. (read: with me)

http://mostlyjunkfood.com lloyd

Girls that don’t get Based God don’t get life. And I pray for them.

aboynamedandy

This *is* a good ass question. I can’t agree more with the stereotypes you described with the Flo Rida guy (douche) and Little Dragon female (hot thang).

But I know people (and I am somebody) who listens to a whole load of music without applying their/myself to that genre’s characteristics.

I’m white, most of my friends are white, and we all listen to rap (from Pusha T to Danger Doom and everything in between), but we would never start acting, for lack of a better word, “black” because of it (that’s just sucka move, yo).

And again, just because somebody listens to Deftones doesn’t mean they’re an angry mess of emotion.

nah_rez

you forgot to mention judging those who use iPod earbuds. i consider guessing what music people are listening to whilst on public transportation a hobby, but they’re also complete strangers that i probably won’t find myself talking to again

to answer your GAQ: i think it’s fair to judge someone based on their music tastes because it is a dealbreaker for some of us. however, i also think a lot of people are willing to be educated musically so you shouldn’t cut someone out as soon as you see their chris brown box set in their front seat.

whenever i’m blasting boyfriend at a stop light and the bass is
thwomping i always wonder if people know that it’s boyfriend or if they
think i’m listening to some gutter music.